HEALTH CONDITION
Friday, July 09, 2010 MY MEDICAL & HEALTH UPDATE! Current mood: blessed
Well...I've been home for 10 days now, so I decided that it was about time to post my Medical and Health Update!
Anyway...as many of you may or may not know, I had recently been having some breathing difficulties.
Well...after about 10-12 days of these difficulties, I decided that it was time to find out just WHAT was causing them, so I rode my bicycle down to the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center on North Vermont Ave. here in Los Angeles.
I arrived at about 10:55AM on Wednesday June 23rd, and signed-in at the Emergency Room Entrance. It didn't take me long to be checked out in the Emergency Room...since my problem had to do with breathing!
And so...one of the first things they did was give me an EKG and took about HALF my blood! Just Kidding, but it SEEMED like it at the time! lol
Anyway, the Blood Results and the EKG...BOTH showed "abnormalities" with my HEART! And so, it was decided...NOT BY ME, to admit me "overnight" for "observation"!
I was NOT going to allow it because of my concern for my dog, Pepper! But, I was assured later by Diana and Lot Holliday ("The Holliday Hellraisers") that they would watch and take care of Pepper for me!
I want to THANK Diana, Lot AND the kids for watching and feeding Pepper and taking her for her walks!
Anyway...I was initially told that I could go home on Thursday, but that idea was tossed out following two more EKGs and an Ecko-Cardiogram...which also showed the "abnormalities".
My Attending Physician, Dr. Richard Banks told me that I had been in "Congestive Heart Failure" and that he wanted me to see a Cardiologist. The Cardiologist, Dr. Joseph Ghazal, when he came in to see me on Thursday afternoon, informed me that he wanted to keep me over the weekend and perform what he called a Cardiac Cathaterization (sp) on Monday! SHIT!!!
Anyway...needless to say, I had to stay right there in Room 601 at the hospital. What a PISSER, I thought!
But...in ALL REALITY, it was probably a good thing that I would be staying.
And so...here I was...stuck in the hospital...unable to see or take care of my Pepper! I was MISERABLE! And on top of THAT, I had requested a telephone for my room, but didn't receive one until THREE days in to my stay!
On the GOOD side, the Doctors and Nurses at Hollywood Presbyterian were WONDERFULLY-PROFESSIONAL and ALWAYS there if I needed some help!
The food was actually pretty good too...which says a LOT, considering what Hospital Food generally tastes like! lol
Monday FINALLY arrives! I was ORIGINALLY told that they would come and take me "downstairs" for "the procedure" sometime between 10:00-11:00AM, but due to an Emergency that the Doctor had to take care of, MY time was "pushed back" to 3:00PM! And considering that I had NOT had ANYTHING to eat or drink since BEFORE 10:00PM on Sunday night, I was QUITE HUNGRY and THIRSTY!
After the Cardiac Cathaterization, they needed to apply DIRECT and HARD pressure to the incision area in my right groin area...to stop the flow of blood from the MAJOR Artery that they had to insert the tubing and camera that made it's way from the groin to the heart!
Following the procedure, I was forced to keep both my head and right leg FLAT for 6 HOURS, so as not to get the incision to start bleeding again. I messed up ONCE and it started bleeding, so the intense and VERY UNCOMFORTABLE pressure was applied again! I vowed NOT to do THAT again! OUCH! lol
Anyway...after the bleeding had subsided again, I was taken to the Recovery Room, where I stayed for a hour before being returned to Room 601.
Needless to say, I was both thirsty and hungry, but I refrained from eating and drinking for a little while and tried to get some sleep, so as to make the 6 hours pass by a little faster!
Finally, I did drink some water and ate a little of my dinner, and got some more sleep.
I actually had to use a bedpan and the urinal a couple of times. There's nothing more uncomfortable than using a bedpan while lying flat on your back in a hospital bed! But...job accomplished! lol The urinal wasn't as bad, though!
Finally, after the 6-6 & 1/2 hour mark...at about 11:30PM, I was able to go to the bathroom by myself. YAY! lol
Then I watched a little television then went back to sleep.
The next morning, I was told that, LUCKILY...I had NO blockages anywhere that would require surgery of any kind. NO stints...NO balloons and NO bypass surgery!
However, my heart IS Enlarged and I have Weak Heart Muscles! But this CAN and WILL be treated with Medications! So...I AM, INDEED...A VERY FORTUNATE MAN!
I was also told that morning that I would be able to GO HOME that afternoon! YES!!!
And so...on Tuesday afternoon, June 29th, shortly after 5:00PM, I was transported by wheelchair down to where this all began...the Entrance of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center!
After a short wait, Diana Holliday showed up in a taxicab to take me back home!
When I got home, Pepper was right there to greet me!
She was almost as happy to see me as I was to see her!
She was all over me! I had to protect my right groin incision from her exuberance in welcoming me home!
I WAS HOME!
I would like to take this time to once again THANK Diana and Lot Holliday and their children for taking care of Pepper while I was in the hospital for those 7 AGONIZING...at least EMOTIONALLY, days! I'm sure that YOU know that emotional pain is just as REAL and DIFFICULT as physical pain!
I also want to THANK Paula Jo Schaber and Diana for getting the word out to my friends and fans about my being in the hospital! Once I FINALLY got a phone put in my hospital room, I received quite a number of calls from all over the country!
AND...I want to THANK...ALL OF YOU...for YOUR Comments, your Messeges, your Well-Wishes, your Good Thoughts...AND...YOUR PRAYERS! If it weren't for ALL OF YOU, I may have never pulled my ass out of THIS "fire"!
Currently, I am breathing MUCH BETTER and feeling better and getting stronger a little more every day...with THANKS TO MY GOD ABOVE!
MAY HE BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL!
Sunday, June 20, 2010 WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? Current mood: depressed
I read this on another site...so I thought I'd post it here. It is a post on wishing we could talk with someone IMPORTANT to us who is NO LONGER with us! In MY case, it's my Mother! I have missed her SO MUCH...ESPECIALLY recently, as my struggles have beaten me...beaten me almost to the point of giving up!
And MOST people who know me...I MEAN...REALLY KNOW ME, knows that this is NOT like ME! I'm NOT one who GIVES UP! I'm a TWO-TIME Cancer Survivor for Christ's Sake! I'M A FIGHTER! But...it's ALMOST like the "fight" has been taken OUT of me, and makes me actually want to give up!
Please read the following quote that I saw this morning on Facebook! It says SO MUCH of HOW I'm feeling this morning:
"I wish Heaven had a phone so I could hear your voice again. I thought of you today, but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday & days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories & a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which i'll never part. God has you in his arms. I have you in my heart. Repost if you have someone in Heaven."
Anyway...on this...the first day of Summer, I am beginning to become overwhelmed by my situation and my inability to adapt! My senses and my physical imperfections are leaving me a shell of the person I used to be!
My physical and emotional well-being is in jeopordy, as I am struggling for each breath! I am NOT meaning this in a figuritive sense...I AM TRUELY struggling for each and every breath I take!
I don't know WHAT has happened to me! I have ALWAYS been a SURVIVOR! I have ALWAYS been a person that people come to, to make THEM laugh...to comfort THEM...to help THEM! But...RIGHT NOW, I am completely UNABLE to HELP MYSELF!
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME?
PLEASE...PRAY FOR ME...so that I may overcome these feelings...these TERRIBLE feelings! I DON'T KNOW WHERE...or WHO TO TURN to!
THANK YOU for allowing me to rant and vent like this!
Michael
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